The collision was so powerful that the Buffer's wife was thrown from her seat; and every plank in the Fairy oscillated with a crashing sound.
The Buffer and the Resurrection Man rushed upon the deck.
A single glance enabled them to ascertain the cause of the sudden alarm.
A lighter, nearly as large as the Fairy, and heavily laden, had been so clumsily brought in against the barges moored off the wharf, that it came with the whole weight of its broad-side upon the Fairy.
"Now then, stupids!" ejaculated the Buffer, applying this complimentary epithet to the two men who were on the deck of the lighter which was putting in.
"Hope we haven't hurt you, friends," exclaimed one of the individuals thus addressed.
"More harm might have been done," answered the Buffer. "Who are you?"
"The Blossom," was the reply.
"Where d'ye come from?" demanded Wicks.
"Oh! up above bridge," cried the man, speaking in a surly and evasive manner. "Here—just catch hold of this rope, will you—and let us lay alongside of you."